Comedy

Nude

Non-gratuitous meanderings for art’s sake

21 Aug 2008

Don’t worry, there is no gratuitous nudity in Nude, just two actors flexing and posing their naked bodies in close proximity to the front row. But it’s all done in the name of art, and the context of a life drawing class, in which the reluctant audience…

Arrietty

Studio Ghibli takes on The Borrowers and delivers charming results

13 Jul 2011

(U) 94min Over three decades, the Studio Ghibli brand of animated storytelling has become a worldwide phenomenon through beloved classics My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and the recent Ponyo. Although not directed by the studio’s co-founder Hayao…

Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy

The Boosh performer's latest TV effort abounds in surrealism but lacks coherence... and jokes

2 Feb 2012

Ahead of his new gaudily-coloured clutter-fest, Noel Fielding admitted that making this solo series left him feeling a bit unhinged. After ingesting just a few minutes of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy (E4, Thu, 10pm) only the most avid Boosh fan will…

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

By-the-numbers old age comedy drama

10 Feb 2012

Early in this by-the-numbers comedy drama, a young salesperson eagerly enthuses to retiring couple Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton) that 'the grey pound is very strong at the moment'. We’re quite clearly supposed to see this…

5 Things you might not know about - Tina C

30 Oct 2008

Despite appearances to the contrary, Tina C is not a genteel C&W dame from Tennessee but is in fact a strapping gentleman by the name of Christopher Green, a bloke from Derbyshire. To be more map-specific, Green hails from Matlock, a true hotbed of…

Kristen Schaal & Kurt Braunohler

Schaal and pal delve into surreal corners

21 Aug 2008

A warning is gently dispatched: Double Down Hearts will break our minds. Co-written in reverse chronological order by Kristen Schaal, of Flight of the Conchords fame, and Kurt Braunohler, her ‘gift’ of a comedy partner, the play pastiches the melodrama…

Kung Fu Panda

3 Jul 2008

COMEDY/ANIMATION (PG) 91min In the words of Carl Douglas’ 1974 disco hit: ‘Everybody is kung fu fighting.’ Everybody, that is, apart from overweight panda Po (voiced by Jack Black). He dreams about joining his heroes, the Fierce Five, in butt-kicking…

Interview: Zach Braff, writer, director and star of All New People

The Scrubs and Garden State star discusses his new theatre production

2 Feb 2012

‘I’m still Jenny from the block,’ says Zach Braff after a moment’s reflection. ‘Even now I feel a bit underground in the acting world.’ For those who enjoyed Braff (and 20 million viewers around the world did) as the lovable JD in US comedy drama…

The best free and cheap things to do in Glasgow and Edinburgh

Visit a library, go for a walk, bake a cake or see some cheap theatre

21 Jan 2011

Beat the January blues with these guaranteed pick-me-ups, suggested by our writers and some friends of The List. They’re all free, or cost just a few quid, so you’ll come out of winter with your bank balance intact and a smile on your face

Russell Howard

Beat surrender

14 Aug 2008

Russell Howard can't resist a spot of testicular tomfoolery but, he tells Jay Richardson, his new act is less Buster Gonad than Jack Kerouac With his infectious, wide-eyed optimism currently offering a counterbalance to Frankie Boyle's unflinching…

Interview: Noel Fielding of Mighty Boosh on new sketch show Luxury Comedy

New sketch show explores the comedian's surreal subconcious

6 Jan 2012

Noel Fielding arrives at the Groucho Club in Soho wearing his favourite cape. It’s black with red details – very Ripper chic – and when he sits down, it balloons over the sides of his armchair. By the time the comedian and Never Mind the Buzzcocks…

Electric Man

A patchy, if well intentioned, Edinburgh-set comic comedy

8 Feb 2012

(12A tbc) 98min Shot in Edinburgh on a micro-budget, comic shop comedy Electric Man declares its intentions from the off: this is to be no social realist kitchen sink drama, typical of the UK film industry, but rather a light-hearted love-letter to…

Queen of quirk Zooey Deschanel stars in formulaic geeky comedy New Girl

The sitcom falls in neatly with The Big Bang Theory, Scrubs et al

5 Jan 2012

Adorkability. ‘Jess Daly’ has this in spades, and it’s the x-factor that led US executives to immediately order up a bunch of extra episodes after New Girl (Channel 4, Fri 6 Jan, 8.35pm) became the Fox network’s highest-rated autumn sitcom debut in a…

The Muppets' most memorable moments

A gallery of clips from our favourite frog and his friends

1 Feb 2012

The Muppets have a string of movies to their names already, including The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Christmas Carol, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and The Great Muppet Caper. Never ones to shirk away from serious film, darling, they’ve also had cameos in…

Paul Foot & Noel Fielding

The comedian answers questions asked by his director.

17 Aug 2010

The List asked the surreal and brilliant Paul Foot to complete our First Word interview. Of course, he couldn’t do it normally, and invited Noel Fielding (who directed his Fringe show) to set the questions. Here are the mind-bending results How long…

GFF 2012 - Day planner

Our highlights for each day of the Glasgow Film Festival

6 Feb 2012

It can be difficult, when any festival rolls around, to decide which events to skip in favour of others. Searching rigorously through the programme, referring back to the calendar, trying to fit in as much as possible - it's a painstaking piece of work…

Sara Pascoe

Disappointing debut from Freud-studying comic

24 Aug 2010

Given that she’s performing her debut solo Fringe hour, the fact that Sara Pascoe is directing two other shows by more experienced comics might have gone a little to her head. Then again, this show is entitled Sara Pascoe vs Her Ego, and judging by the…

Julian Clary - Lord of the Mince

Intimate, retrospective stand-up from the New Statesman columnist

13 Jul 2009

Offstage, Julian Clary is a man of relatively few words and the ones that he will proffer are certainly not minced. He’s direct but he doesn’t go deep, choosing the trivial over the heavyweight. It’s partly because I need to have two bites at Clary’s…

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

The devil plays guitar

13 Nov 2006

Tearing modesty a new asshole, Tenacious D describe themselves as ‘the world’s greatest rock band’. The D’s two members, Jack Black (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Kyle Gass (lead guitar and backing vocals), name check among their inspirations Kiss, Dio…

Angelos Epithemiou's Christmas

The deadpan Greek/cockney comic scorekeeper from Vic & Bob’s Shooting Stars

23 Dec 2010

How will you be celebrating Christmas? Well I will be celebrating Christmas with all my family: my mum Anastacius and my dad Apostolos and my brothers Agamemnon, Aggatheus, Archipelago and Arterius. Although I’ve been trying to get hold of them on the…

Henry Rollins – Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Fri 13 Jan

Prolific punk-rocker gets gut laughs on his three-hour rant

3 Feb 2012

Few people can make a decent living out of talking on stage for two hours. Henry Rollins, on the other hand, has it down to a fine art. An honorary punk rock graduate having earned his stripes fronting S.O.A. and Black Flag in the 80s, and later, his…

Rich Fulcher - From Mighty Boosh to Edinburgh Fringe's greatest groupie

Mighty Boosh star tells the whore truth with 'groupie school' show

16 Jul 2010

Squeezing out of the extra tight safari suit that made him a cult star with The Mighty Boosh, Rich Fulcher is throwing on some slinkier threads to morph into super-groupie Eleanor. Jonny Ensall wonders just how low he/she will go

The Most Important Show of the Day

An interactive wake-up call

10 Aug 2009

Riding the waves of recently popularised characters such as Brüno and Borat, Richard Simms is a pint-sized fitness fanatic in an 80s-inspired get-up of fluorescent shorts and leg-warmers. ‘Are you getting enough SECS (Spoken Encouragement Compliments…

Carnage

Polanski's comedy of upper-middle class savagery is fast, funny and filthy

24 Jan 2012

(15) 79mins Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s play Gods of Carnage opens with a playground spat. Set over the opening credits, it’s this innocuous bust-up that drives the bitterly funny four-hander, as the parents of both children try to…

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

16 Dec 2011

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…